I am curious to see how Mat will adapt returning to Canada. We had a very mild January but it’s been between -30 and -35 since the beginning of February. I also saw -50 on my weather app with the windchill brrrrrrr. So he will have to adjust to 60 degrees difference from +30 to -30. I bet he will look forward to our trip to Florida in one week from now!

Mat also raced yesterday in Adelaide. We did not advertise too much as we knew he wasn’t going for a PB. Especially after the mileage he has been putting in the the last weeks. But he was happily surprised with his time of 1:26.35, his 2nd best time for the 20km. I think this is very encouraging!

I’m off to the Biathlon World Cup this afternoon. We are very lucky to have the best bi-athletes in our town and I am going to watch the sprint men and women. It will sure be exciting……and cold!

Apparently, Monday January 21st is called blue Monday because people are feeling more depressed….January is a long month. I remember 2 years ago when Mat left for Australia, I could really feel the loneliness and it was really hard. This time is much different. Over the years, I’ve learned to deal with Mat being away and turn my loneliness into projects. And it’s really easy to find projects when your home is a fixer upper :)

Still, I apprehended these last 2 weeks because they are usually the most difficult. A few weeks in but still a few weeks to go until Mat’s return. But I had so much to do and I was able to talk to Mat on a regular basis so the weeks went by fairly quickly. I started a new serie on Netflix, I’ve made home made moisturizing, started another table and slowly preparing the 2nd floor of the house for a paint make over! Oh, and still running and still cross-country skiing….these are the classics!

In my former athlete’s life, I was a swimmer and one of my idol at the time was obviously Ian Thorpe. Since Mat is at the Australian Institute of Sport, he sends me regular pictures of famous swimmers. Australia has sooooooo many awesome swimmers and a lot of them have achieved great careers. It made me smile when Mat sent me the one with Ian Thorpe. This brought back a lot of memories!

To close, I know you all want an update on Mat!!! He is still training really hard (5-6 hours a day). His test results are very encouraging too (Fat, sleep, nutrition, VO2Max). He rolled his ankle again but this is a classic now. He’s been out of racewalking for a few days and he has now resumed normal training. He had some harder days due to lack of sleep, intense training and intense heat (between 35-43 degree every day) but he is managing very well and gaining a lot of confidence. He also found a really big spider in his room and I will spare you the picture!!

Countdown has started for me…..15 sleeps to go

Did you know that you can also follow Mat on instagram (search Mathieu.Bilodeau)

This year, Mat flew to Australia on NYE. I flew back to Calgary the day after. The Holidays are always nice to be with our family but our reality is that when we go back home in Calgary, it is a bit more difficult as it is suddenly so quiet! But we make the best out of it!

This year, I was alone, one by one, I said goodbye to Mat, then my brother and sister, then my parents who dropped me off at the airport. The first week was not too bad. Work was quiet so I had time to settle back and enjoy my house. I also started cross-country skiing and started again with my running club on Mondays

To make sure that I wasn’t bored, I made sure to save myself a few projects.

1- I painted the laundry room. We had already started before the Holidays but I really wanted to have the room done.

2- I bought a table at the thrift store and wanted to refurbish it. It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it but I still enjoy the final result. I will share some pictures next time, when i’ts completely done

I have a list of other projects and I have until February 11th to complete them! Mat returns on that day!

By the way, Mat is doing great and I am so proud of him and so lucky to be able to do this with him. He has been in Australia for 12 days now. His training is going well. We have planned a 2 week trip to Florida at the end of February and I can’t wait to go with him!!